Mouse Tester

What to try

1. 1

   Move the pointer across the pad. A marker follows it, and the position is shown in the pad's own coordinates.

2. 2

   Press each button in turn, including the wheel and any side buttons. Each one lights while it is held and stays outlined once it has been seen.

3. 3

   Scroll up and down, and sideways if your wheel tilts. The reading shows the direction, the amount and the unit the browser used.

4. 4

   Click twice, deliberately slowly. "Since last press" shows the gap in milliseconds, which is the number that matters when a switch starts sending two clicks for one press.

Reading the results

A button that never lights is either faulty, unmapped, or claimed by software on your computer before the browser sees it. Side buttons are the usual case: many mice send back and forward as ordinary browser navigation, and some send nothing a web page can see at all.

The wheel reading has a unit for a reason. Browsers report scrolling in pixels, lines or pages depending on the device and the setting, so the raw number means nothing on its own. What is worth watching is whether one notch always produces the same reading, and whether the direction ever reverses on its own.

If the gap between presses is very short when you meant to click once, your switch may be bouncing. The Double Click Test exists for exactly that, and counts how often it happens over several presses. The Mouse Double-Click Problem explains how to tell a failing switch from a setting.

What this page cannot tell you

It cannot see which physical button you pressed, only the number your system reports, and that mapping can be swapped in your mouse settings or its own software. It cannot measure your mouse's polling rate, its sensor accuracy or its latency: those need equipment a browser does not have. And it cannot tell a failing switch from a hasty finger in a single click, which is why repeated, deliberate presses are the useful test.

For the keys rather than the clicks, use the Keyboard Tester. If a key is the problem, Keyboard Keys Not Working walks through the common faults.